Why Americans 'Tune Out' Obesity Talk

Sept. 28, 2007 — -- Today in America, the obesity conversation is very loud.

Every day, Americans are inundated with the latest statistics, weight-loss products and information about how healthy -- or unhealthy -- they are.

We know that in the United States too many adults (about 66 percent) and children and adolescents (about 33 percent) are overweight or obese. Most of us would like to be able to change our diets and increase our physical activity level and lose weight -- but achieving this isn't easy.

Even more alarming, we learned earlier this month that American weight loss efforts are stalling as obesity continues to rise. American efforts to lose weight have dropped 14 percentage points in the last four years, according to new research from the America On the Move Foundation (AOMF).

The tools and resources to fight the obesity epidemic are all around us, in many forms, and yet, Americans aren't taking advantage of them. They are tuning out the noise.

Why, when the awareness of the hazards of obesity is at an all-time high, are fewer people trying to lose weight? I believe it is because people have found they cannot sustain the big lifestyle changes that experts tell them they need for weight loss. But maybe people who have given up on weight loss can succeed in preventing excessive weight gain.

Prevention is never as "sexy" as solving an existing problem, but when it comes to obesity, the things necessary for prevention might be what people can reasonably, actually accomplish. For this reason, we must move prevention of excessive weight gain higher on the national agenda.

There is no shortage of information about how to lose weight. When people choose a popular diet or a commercial weight loss program, they often are asked to make big changes in diet and physical activity patterns. Most people actually achieve some success with these plans in the short term. The problem is sustaining it permanently. Most Americans find that life gets in the way and it is difficult to keep doing the things recommended by their diet plan.